Bike trips on the rise thanks to government backed schemes, study finds

Two government-funded programmes that supported cycling schemes in 18 cities and towns across England have led to some big rises in bike trips, says a new study.

Sustrans - in partnership with Transport for Quality of Life, Cavill Associates and the University of the West of England - conducted a monitoring study of the impact of both the programmes, which were both delivered by British Cycling. The Cycling City and Towns programme invested in cycling in 12 towns and cities from 2008-2011 while the Cycling Demonstration Towns programme included six towns that had received initial funding for cycling in 2005-2008 and in 2008-2011.

From automatic count data, the study found there was an overall 29% increase in the six Cycling Demonstration Towns (CDT) in five and a half years, ranging from 6% to 59%; and an overall increase of 24% in the 12 Cycling City and Towns (CCT) over three years, ranging from 9% to 62% across towns.

The overall annual rate of growth for the CDT programme was 5.3% and for the CCT programme 8%.

The Cycling Demonstration Towns were Aylesbury, Brighton and Hove, Darlington, Derby, Exeter and Lancaster with Morecambe. Darlington and Exeter experienced the highest rates of growth at 59% and 45% respectively.

Among the CCTs the largest increases were in Stoke-on-Trent (62%) and Greater Bristol (40%), with further growth achieved even in areas with already very high levels of cycling such as York (6%) and Cambridge (9%), reports Sustrans.

The programmes set out for the first time to provide funding to towns and cities that was comparable to funding levels in Europe. The overall annual expenditure per head of population was £14 for just under three years in 12 towns and cities, and £17 for five-and-a-half years in the six remaining areas.

Dr Andy Cope, Director of Insight, Research & Monitoring Unit at Sustrans, said: “The evidence of the study is clear – increasing levels of cycling in our towns nd cities is very much possible. The growth in cycle trips in the participating towns and cities reflects the fact that investment comparable to that spent in Denmark and the Netherlands stimulates changes in levels of cycling. The study also indicates sustained long-term commitment to investment in cycling is key to growing cycle use.”

Lynn Sloman, a Board Member of Transport for London and a former Board Member of Cycling England, said: “The programmes enabled a whole new way of thinking about cycling investment to develop – we realised that it was essential to tackle all of multiple reasons why people did not cycle.

“If we really want to achieve ‘lift off’ for cycling, we need a sustained investment programme targeting the same places over at least one decade, and ideally two.

“It’s about time that Transport Ministers stepped up their ambition for high quality, long-term, proactively-led cycling investment programmes that made best possible use of public money. Then we might really start to look like a cycling country.”

Outcomes of the Cycling Demonstration Towns and Cycling City and Towns Programme